


the mystery of love (will wonders ever cease?)

by thereisnoreality



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff and Humor, M/M, venmo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-09-28 16:30:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20428994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thereisnoreality/pseuds/thereisnoreality
Summary: It's been six months since Donghyuck and Renjun have started dating and Mark Lee, Donghyuck Lee's Self Appointed Guardian When He Was At College And When Johnny Wasn't Around, still doesn't know and Donghyuck has no idea how to break it to him.





	the mystery of love (will wonders ever cease?)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Belgium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Belgium/gifts).
  * Inspired by [eat your cake and have it too](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17294501) by [Belgium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Belgium/pseuds/Belgium). 

> this was so much fun to write, i really hope you like it! ❤

> **Renjun Huang paid Donghyuck Lee 17.65**
> 
> Feb 14th
> 
> for the flowers
> 
> ♡ 1 ✎ 0

> **Donghyuck Lee paid Renjun Huang 17.65**
> 
> Feb 14th
> 
> stop fucking paying me for a gift
> 
> ♡ 1 ✎ 1
> 
> **Renjun Huang**
> 
> you know i hate valentines
> 
> **Donghyuck Lee**
> 
> you love me tho so u have to put up with it _**[comment deleted]**_

The door to Donghyuck’s bedroom slams open and Donghyuck startles, phone dropping from his fingers to land harmlessly in the comforter spread below him. 

“Are you trying to give us away?” Renjun demands stalking towards him, the massive bouquet of flowers clutched in his hand. Donghyuck moves over to give him room and watches lazily as Renjun very carefully sets the flowers down, handling them delicately despite his earlier protests when Donghyuck had shoved them at him after his Anthro 101 class in front of half his classmates, a third of which were so high they probably didn’t even notice Renjun smacking Donghyuck with the flowers in the middle of the lecture hall. 

“I was caught up in the throes of passion,” Donghyuck informs him as Renjun flops onto the bed with a tired groan. Despite it being Valentine’s Day, they hadn’t seen each other all day except for a brief ten minute period in between classes. Well into their second semester of junior year, neither Donghyuck nor Renjun had the time nor the patience to seek out time with each other during the day, they saved that for the end of the day or at the end of the week. Renjun tips his shoulder onto Donghyuck’s shoulder and sighs half long-sufferingly when Donghyuck kisses his nose. 

“You’re the one that doesn’t want to tell Mark,” Renjun mutters, sliding down to rest his chin on his hands. 

Donghyuck scrunches up his nose and nudges Renjun’s shoulder with his own. “Well I didn’t want to tell him _before_ because he was all panicky over Yukhei and _now_ it’s far too late and he’ll get all huffy and sad but like in that way that he doesn’t want to admit he’s sad because it’s been like six months and he thinks I can’t keep secrets from him for that long anyway.”

Renjun takes in this word vomit with remarkable patience. He hums finally, rolling over onto his back and rolling his eyes only a little bit when Donghyuck scoots over to rest his head on his chest. Renjun’s been bulking up this past year and it stresses Donghyuck out more than he can articulate to place his hand on Renjun’s chest and meet muscle and to _not _be afraid of cracking his thin chest open like a baby bird’s. 

“Hey,” Donghyuck mutters, poking Renjun’s chest, watching in abject confusion, and a little awe as the muscle doesn’t give way. Hot. Maybe there was something to this whole working out thing. Then Donghyuck remembers the one time he’d attempted working out with Yukhei and had been so sore for the next week that he had to crawl out of bed. So maybe that was a thing best left to Renjun. Donghyuck peers up through his eyelashes at Renjun who has his eyes closed, his hands behind his head and narrows his eyes. “Hey.” He pokes him again. 

Renjun groans and opens his eyes to glare down at him as best as he can from his position. “_What_?”

Donghyuck pouts. “Kiss me.”

“Why are you so fucking needy?” Renjun huffs, but he’s already maneuvering himself upwards and Donghyuck’s lips curve into a victorious smile.

“Listen,” he says anyway, because he’ll be damned if he lets Renjun Huang have the last word. “It’s fucking Valentine’s Day, I deserve to be kissed by my own- _mmph." _His words get cut off by Renjun yanking him into a kiss, his fingers curled around the collar of Donghyuck's shirt. The kiss is sweet and shallow, pressing in lingering touches against each other and Donghyuck smiles at the unbearable sweetness of it all.

"Best discovery I ever made," Renjun mutters against his lips, taking a second to pull back just far enough to adjust their positions.

"Mmm?" Donghyuck questions, allowing himself to be tugged closer to Renjun, bracing himself on Renjun's chest as he tilts his head back up to Renjun.

"Learning how to get you to shut up," Renjun says and sure enough, silences Donghyuck's incoming protests up by kissing him again.

* * *

> **Donghyuck Lee charged Renjun Huang 6.58**
> 
> Feb 18
> 
> chipotle bitch
> 
> ♡ 7 ✎ 1
> 
> **Renjun Huang**
> 
> you're charging your bf for a date? _**[comment deleted]**_
> 
> **Donghyuck Lee**
> 
> love ain't free Huang

"I have a theory," Mark announces slamming his textbook down on the picnic table. Donghyuck and Renjun look up at him with twin looks of distaste as their Venti Starbucks cups - a Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher for Renjun, and a Triple Venti, Non-fat Caramel Macchiato for Donghyuck - tremble at the impact.

Yukhei breaks into a wide grin and gets up to yank Mark in a weird but endearing greeting consisting of a bro hug and a kiss. "What's your theory, babe?" He asks happily, sitting back down, ending up a little too close to Renjun who pokes him away with the sharp end of his pencil.

"_You._" Mark glares at Donghyuck. "You're hiding something."

"That's not a theory," Donghyuck tells him, leaning over to sneak a sip of Renjun's drink, taking his successive pencil pokes - marginally less harder than the one he had delivered to Yukhei - with grace. "That's just an accusation. A highly unsubstantiated one, if I may say so."

"You may not," Mark informs him. "You're hiding something from me and I want to know what."

"Donghyuck can't keep secrets," Renjun says and when Donghyuck sneaks a look at him - very sneakily! over the top of his notes - Renjun's face is totally devoid of anything that merits suspicion, as he flips through his textbook. "What could he possibly be hiding?"

Donghyuck tries very hard not to melt at that. Lord help him, but he finds it ever so _attractive_ when Renjun is sneaky. Panic at the Disco had it right when they'd claimed that lying was the most fun a girl could have without taking her clothes off - the girl in this case being Donghyuck and the fun he could have being Renjun.

Mark falters, clearly thinking hard, his forehead screwing up in great concentration. It would be almost adorable if Donghyuck wasn't scared - not really, there was very little Mark Lee inspired in him and none of those emotions tended to anything close to fear - of the backlash he would face when Mark inevitably found out his secret.

"That's true," he mutters, slowly taking out his laptop, narrowing his eyes at Donghyuck the whole time. "But you've been acting shifty."

"Me?" Donghyuck gasps, holding a hand to his chest in great affront.

Mark isn't deterred by his theatrics. Curse their long friendship. Donghyuck should have abandoned Mark on the playground to his fate - and the bullies that were two years younger than him and _female_\- when he had the chance. "You weren't home on Friday night," he says slowly with all the air of a detective on the verge of his next big break in a cold case. "And I heard you come in late the next morning..." He pauses as if to draw out suspense. To his credit, Yukhei looks enthralled but that might just be because it's _Mark _talking and he's not entirely focused on the words. "And you were _giggling_," Mark finishes with an air of triumph.

Donghyuck stares deadpan at him. "Friday was Valentine's Day," he says. "What were _you_ doing home so early Markie? Hmm?" He actually knows exactly what Mark had been talking about. He and Renjun had spent Valentine's at Renjun's apartment, kissing and getting mildly tipsy on shitty convenience store wine while watching Moana. Donghyuck remembers falling asleep in Renjun's arms as he hummed along to the songs, his voice reverberating warmly in his chest, lulling Donghyuck off to sleep.

If anyone asked, and they likely wouldn’t given that the grand total of people that knew Renjun and Donghyuck were dating was Renjun, Donghyuck and Jeno - who had unfortunately walked in on them making out in one of the private study rooms at the library - Donghyuck would have informed them that he had spent Valentine's Day having the raunchiest sex of his life before limping home late the next afternoon pleased and mildly hungover. He wouldn't have done so out of any kind of shame or embarrassment that he and Renjun had spent their night like a fifty year old married couple, but rather that the memory was so nice that Donghyuck would have liked to keep it to himself, tucked under his chest, right above his heart.

Mark's eyes narrow further. "What were _you_ doing out on Friday night?" He asks, leaning forward. "You didn't have a date for Valentine's."

"Ouch," Donghyuck says, mock affronted. "I could have had one, you don't know me."

"We were hanging out," Renjun says and when Donghyuck stares at him wide eyed, completely abandoning all sense of subtlety, Renjun raises a bored eyebrow back at him. "Did you forget already?"

And Donghyuck thinks Renjun's pretty much given them away, that he's going to be subjected to a forty five minute interrogation by one Mark Lee who, for some reason due to their twelve year long friendship and by virtue of being born 10 _months_ earlier, had appointed himself Donghyuck Lee's Guardian When He Was At College And When Johnny Wasn't Around. Given that Johnny was currently on a six month stint in China, living out his indie aesthetic dream of travelling around with one backpack and taking pictures of dying trees and crumbling statues, the guardianship of Donghyuck had defaulted to Mark and that was a job he took (too) seriously.

But then Mark's frown clears and in its place creeps a pout. "Oh," he says moodily, opening his textbook as if he's finally planning on starting some work, shoulders slumping. "You could have just told me you were at Renjun's."

Donghyuck startles from his blank staring at Renjun. Mark hadn't realised, he'd simply assumed that Donghyuck had spent the night at Renjun's in a _friendly_ way. Renjun winks at him before dropping his head back to his notes and Donghyuck goes warm and tingly all over. _Holy fuck_. Sneaky Renjun really was the hottest thing ever.

* * *

_Last Year_

> **Renjun Huang charged Donghyuck Lee 5.73**
> 
> Sep 24
> 
> soup for having no soul
> 
> ♡ 10 ✎ 5
> 
> **Mark Lee**
> 
> Donghyuck’s sick?
> 
> **Renjun Huang**
> 
> he’s dying and he says to tell u to shoot your shot
> 
> **Mark Lee**
> 
> Renjun!!! delete!
> 
> **Yukhei Wong**
> 
> haha donghyucks funny
> 
> **Yukhei Wong**
> 
> is he actually dying?? D:
> 
> **Renjun Huang**
> 
> yes

“You know I’m not actually sick right?” Donghyuck asks when Renjun stops by his apartment with a massive styrofoam cup of egg drop soup from the Chinese place by his apartment that he frequents so often that if Donghyuck hadn’t been in Renjun’s apartment himself, he would have sworn up and down that Renjun lived there.

Donghyuck’s still curled on the couch, wrapped up in a big fluffy blanket he and Mark had gone through Black Friday hell at JCPenny to get at a quarter of its original price. Mark had taken one look at Donghyuck that morning, sneezing from having shoved his face into the old junk drawer he hadn't touched since they'd moved in, and sniffling loudly into crumpled tissues and had promptly run out of the apartment, too terrified of Donghyuck's germs putting him out of commission from going to classes. And if there was one thing Mark Lee feared than anything else, it was missing an important lecture.

Donghyuck accepts the soup nonetheless when Renjun holds it out to him, because he loves egg drop soup and it's a nice feeling to know that Renjun had remembered that.

Renjun rolls his eyes at Donghyuck. "I had to keep up appearances," he says, nudging Donghyuck over on the couch and dropping his backpack by his feet. "Mark stalks our venmo transactions."

Donghyuck lets out a bark of laughter. "Does he really? What a loser." He scrambles for his phone, hurriedly thumbing to the venmo app.

> **Donghyuck Lee charged Mark Lee 666.66**
> 
> Sept 24
> 
> emotional compensation
> 
> ♡ 9 ✎ 2
> 
> **Mark Lee**
> 
> What does this mean
> 
> **Mark Lee**
> 
> Hyuck, I'm shaking and crying what does this mean

"You're gonna send him into a conniption," Renjun comments and Donghyuck looks over to find Renjun harassing Mark as well. Oh, the glee this tiny blue app granted him; Donghyuck and Renjun owed much to the honorable Elon Musk for giving them the means to provide Mark with much stress over snacks: the food, and _snacks_: Yukhei, on a daily basis.

"Nah," Donghyuck disagrees, locking his phone and throwing it somewhere into the depths of the couch cushion so that he can claim ignorance when Mark comes back from class to bug him. "Mark doesn't care that much. Besides, he should be thanking us. We're basically giving him a free, unhindered shot at Yukhei."

"The only question is if he takes it," Renjun agrees, plucking the remote from their coffee table and flicking to Netflix. "Disney or horror?"

Outside, the sky rumbles threateningly and the sun gets hidden by a thick veil of heavy thunderclouds. Donghyuck pops the top off the soup and offers one of the spoons to Renjun. "Disney," he says and lets himself snuggle up to Renjun as the familiar notes to Hercules begin to play. Of course Renjun would pick Hercules, because Donghyuck, with the exception of Mark who thought that the Goofy movie was a masterpiece, only kept friends with exquisite taste.

Rain starts spattering against the window as Hercules becomes a teenager, and Renjun nudges closer, tugging a portion of the blanket for himself. Donghyuck presses closer to him and takes another sip of warm soup, carefully tipping his head onto Renjun's shoulder. Mark Lee better appreciate his sacrifice.

* * *

> **Mark Lee paid Donghyuck Lee 12.98**
> 
> Sept 26
> 
> a*c
> 
> ♡ 9 ✎ 5
> 
> **Donghyuck Lee**
> 
> god ur such a loser why cant u just say cocaine
> 
> **Taeyong Lee**
> 
> MARK
> 
> **Mark Lee**
> 
> haha that's not what he meant!
> 
> **Donghyuck Lee**
> 
> that's exactly what I meant
> 
> **Mark Lee**
> 
> Donghyuck!

The party is loud and raging around them and the music is almost loud enough to be unbearable. Donghyuck maneuvers around the back of the couch, neatly sidestepping some nasty orange liquid on the floor before making his way to his friends, huddled around the breakfast bar.

"Shots!" Renjun announces cheerfully, handing Donghyuck a glass of amber whiskey. Donghyuck takes in Renjun, his cheeks flushed and his eyes already half glassy in that way people often are at midnight at a college party, and somehow he finds that he wants to keep Renjun looking that happy always. So he dutifully takes the shot and throws it back, forcefully holding back the coughs and tears that automatically spring up at the cinnamon as Renjun laughs in glee. Fuck, he _hates_ Fireballs.

“You good?” Renjun asks, taking the glass back from him, eyes glimmering even in the low light. 

“Uhuh,” Donghyuck coughs, wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve. A thought occurs to him and he lights up. “Oh god, give that to Mark - he’ll _die_.”

“Even more than you?” Renjun teases but he willingly turns around to pour another shot and his smile is so cute that Donghyuck isn’t even offended. He blinks at that thought, not even noticing Mark hopping up next to them and innocently taking the drink Renjun’s offered him. _Cute_. Renjun’s cute. Next to him, Mark’s thrown back the shot and had promptly started coughing his lungs out. 

Oh, fuck. He, Donghyuck Lee, finds Renjun Huang _cute_. 

Donghyuck takes the second shot right out of Mark’s hand and downs it. He’s gonna need some time to process. 

It turns out he gets very little time to do that, because Mark disappears somewhere into the kitchens and Donghyuck ends up slumped on the couch with a drunk Renjun leaning heavily against him. 

“Hey you,” Donghyuck says unsteadily. “What’s up?”

“What’s down?” Renjun asks nonsensically, slumping lower and turning his face so that his nose is smushed against Donghyuck’s sleeve. Renjun peers up at him and narrows his eyes. “Hey.”

“What?”

“I think we suc- succeeded.”

Donghyuck frowns down at him in silent confusion and Renjun grabs his cheeks in one hand to turn him to the kitchen where he sees Mark on his tiptoes, arms thrown around Yukhei’s neck and their lips locked. 

“Oh,” Donghyuck says but Renjun’s still holding his cheeks and his lips are smushed together so it sounds more like _ew_. “Neat!” _Neat?_ Donghyuck mentally slaps himself. It’s as if the second his brain had clocked into the realisation he liked Renjun more than a frenemy, it had forgotten how to speak like a normal human being. 

Thankfully Renjun is far too gone to even notice and he lets go of Donghyuck’s face to slump back down into his shoulder. “I should getta fucking Oscar for this shit,” he slurs. “I wanna creepy bald gold guy on my bookshelf. ‘S an IKEA bookshelf so you know issall fancy n’ shit.”

“I don’t think they give out those for matchmaking,” Donghyuck says. 

“Fucking white people,” Renjun mutters then with a loud groan, hauls himself upward and holds out a hand to Donghyuck. “Come on.”

Donghyuck looks at the proffered hand curiously. Has he ever held Renjun’s hand? His first time _can’t_ be at a party where Jaehyun has his shirt tied around his head like a bandana and Taeyong has passed out from drinking three beers. Even Kun looks ruffled as Ten backs him up against a wall, the look in his eyes so indecent, Donghyuck has to look away before he hurls all over the floor.

Renjun makes an impatient noise, waggling his hand in Donghyuck’s face, and Donghyuck takes it before Renjun can say something loud and embarrassing as he was very wont to do when drunk. Or hit him. Which he was also wont to do.

"Where are we going?" Donghyuck asks, letting Renjun heave him up and then promptly catching Renjun around the waist before he can topple backwards at the sudden imbalance in weight.

"Anywhere but here," Renjun announces dragging them to the door, not even letting Donghyuck pull his coat entirely over his arms before he tugs him out. "This party is boring now."

"Glad you had fun!" Johnny waves and before Donghyuck can wave back, he gets yanked out the door. 

They stumble down the street, Donghyuck’s arm still wrapped around Renjun’s waist despite the fact that they were both relatively steady. 

“Ramen,” Renjun announces suddenly looking up at the sky and dragging them to a stop. “I want ramen.”

Donghyuck huffs a laugh. Renjun’s cheeks are flushed pink and a smile curls over his lips, wide and far too pretty for the time of night they were in and for how drunk they both were. Donghyuck’s heart starts up like a kick drum, hard and pounding under his collarbones. He clears his throat and steps back as he says, “Where are we gonna get ramen at this time of night?” 

Renjun looks back down at him and pokes his cheek. His eyes widen and he pokes harder. “Your cheeks are so soft,” he says softly, moving closer and pressing his finger deep into the plush skin of Donghyuck’s cheek. Donghyuck stares back at him, heart suddenly sounding less like lazy kick drum and now more like cymbals clattering to the ground. What the fuck? 

“Ra-ramen,” he croaks out, trying not to stutter and failing horribly. 

If Renjun wasn’t drunk, he wouldn’t have accepted such a poor segue but he was and he took the bait Donghyuck had thrown with all the desperation of a fisherman that hadn’t caught a single thing all day. 

“My house,” Renjun says firmly and then turns on his heel, prompting Donghyuck to grab him by the waist again as he unbalances because Renjun wasn’t coordinated enough to attempt a spin when he was this drunk. Thankfully, Renjun’s house isn’t that far from Johnny’s and it only takes them about ten minutes of walking in swaying lines before they can finally collapse on Renjun’s couch. 

Donghyuck’s sober by a faintly thin margin so he’s elected - read: shoved off the couch - to make ramen for the two of them while Renjun stumbles to his bedroom to get out of “this motherfucking clown outfit”. Donghyuck would almost be impressed by how much dirtier Renjun’s mouth got when he was drunk if he wasn’t so worried about Renjun tripping and bashing his head on his bedside table. 

They eat the ramen while it’s still on the stove - Donghyuck dragging one of Renjun’s breakfast stools over and Renjun hopping up on the counter, curling his legs under him, looking impossibly tiny in his oversized hoodie. Donghyuck tries to calm heart down - which now sounded like a whole goddamn orchestra, flush with a timpani and a fucking triangle that wouldn’t stop pinging. 

“Hey.” 

Donghyuck looks up at Renjun. They’re sitting quite close but the counter gives Renjun a considerable amount of height and he peers down at Donghyuck, eyes red and glassy. 

“What?” 

Renjun peers down at him for a moment longer before clearly deciding something. “Will you kiss me?”

The timpani bangs. Somewhere in the distant depths of Donghyuck’s mind, the triangle falls to the floor, creating a racket. “W-why?” He asks. 

Renjun shrugs. “Because you’re cute. And I’ve discovered that matchmaking is a very arduous and lonely task and it’d be nice to have someone to do it with.”

Donghyuck summons up a cheeky smile. “And that someone is me?” 

Renjun rolls his eyes. “Don’t get cocky, there’s a long interview process.”

“Oh, really?” Donghyuck asks, propping his chin on his fist. “What’s the first step?”

Renjun tugs him in for a kiss in lieu of answer. 

The orchestra goes silent. 

* * *

> **Renjun Huang charged Donghyuck Lee 0.01**
> 
> Dec 12
> 
> Medical bills
> 
> ♡ 1 ✎ 5
> 
> **Donghyuck Lee**
> 
> i can’t believe you’re charging me one cent for a hickey _**[comment deleted]**_
> 
> **Renjun Huang**
> 
> thats what you get for agreeing to be my matchmaking partner
> 
> **Donghyuck Lee**
> 
> can i resign
> 
> **Renjun Huang**
> 
> fine. dont expect to kiss me again then. _**[comment deleted]**_
> 
> **Donghyuck Lee**
> 
> I TAKE IT BACK

“Donghyuck!”

Donghyuck looks up as Mark runs into the apartment, slamming the door open, and panic openly displayed on his face. Renjun shifts a little so that their shoulders aren’t pressed together and Donghyuck shoots him a grateful look, though he’s sure Mark won’t notice the difference.

In the whirlwind of classes-finals-Mark’s relationship-Donghyuck’s own blossoming relationship-Renjun induced giddiness, Donghyuck hasn’t found the time to pluck up the courage to tell Mark about his newfound boyfriend. Renjun didn’t take insult to it, thankfully, had just shrugged and pulled Donghyuck back down for a full kiss, licking into his mouth in a way that had spent Donghyuck’s head spinning so hard he fully expected to see the cartoonish circles whirling over his head.

“What?” Donghyuck asks, flicking the tv on mute.

Mark skids to a stop in front of them and sinks down on the ground in front of them, eyes wide. “Yukhei asked me to be his boyfriend,” he says breathlessly.

“What?” Donghyuck demands. Renjun chokes out a laugh. “Now?”

“Yeah,” Mark says dazedly before snapping back to Donghyuck. “Wait, what do you mean _now_?”

Donghyuck stares at him. “Mark, it’s been three months. You go on dates all the time. I know for a fact you’ve very loudly fucked each other. He only asked you now?”

Mark flushes, slumping. “He wanted to take his time. It’s cute,” he says defensively.

Donghyuck snorts, thinking of the way he and Renjun had ended up fucking two weeks after the party, in the library bathroom, too riled up to suffer the fifteen minute walk home. They were also too riled up to be silent as the month long ban, due to very clearly not soundproof bathroom stalls, had proved. Bless Yukhei. There was something to be said for waiting, clearly.

“Well I’m very pleased for you, Markie,” Donghyuck says, flicking the TV back on. “I’m glad there’s a smaller chance of you ending up as a sad single dog dad in your thirties."

Mark make a noise of protest, but Donghyuck deliberately turns up Bake Off higher so he doesn't have to listen to it. Besides, no one talks over Mary Berry. No one.

* * *

> **Donghyuck Lee charged Mark Lee 5.56**
> 
> Jan 26
> 
> boba bitch
> 
> ♡ 6 ✎ 2
> 
> **Mark Lee**
> 
> must you include the bitch
> 
> **Donghyuck Lee**
> 
> its my new thing

"So," Donghyuck slides the boba cup over to Mark as he sits down across from him. Their usual boba place has a bunch of squishy couches in the corner and given that it’s the middle of January and few people tend to venture out into the falling snow for boba, no matter how good it is, the couches are free for them to sprawl across. "What's the problem now?"

Mark flushes and takes a long, avoidant sip of his taro tea. Donghyuck watches him, unimpressed, until it becomes clear that Mark, no matter how much Yukhei lauds his blowjob skills to a horrified Donghyuck, a disdainful Renjun, and a mildly interested Jeno, cannot hold half a cup worth of tea and bubbles in his mouth and has to pull away to swallow it all.

Donghyuck leans over and snatches the cup back before Mark can take another sip. "If you don't speak in the next twenty seconds I'm walking out," he threatens. He's supposed to be at Renjun's in the next hour anyway for a night of pizza and a plethora of Disney movies. Donghyuck goes warm all over at that thought. God, he loves his boyfriend.

Mark sticks out his bottom lip in a horrifying pout and Donghyuck tries not to gag, with all his previous warmth vanishing. He's about to fling his cup at Mark, bubble tea be damned, but then Mark speaks. "I think I'm boring Yukhei," he mutters.

Donghyuck falters. "What do you mean?"

Mark shrugs, not looking up at him. "I don't know," he says, tracing the wood table in between them. "I just- Yukhei's _great_, you know? He's really funny and he's got so many friends and he loves being around people and you know me-" an awkward expression crosses over his face and he twists his fingers together in a way that makes Donghyuck's chest clench. "I like staying at home. I like writing more than partying and it's just - I'm worried I'm boring him. That I'm not exciting enough."

Donghyuck stares at him, his mouth dropping open. "Mark Lee," he says. "You stupid _fucker_."

That startles Mark out of his weird daze. "Hey," he protests, eyes wide. "What was that for?"

Donghyuck smacks him as best he can with the table separating them. "You idiot," he says again, because he feels the need to drum it into Mark's head. "First of all, Yukhei likes _you_. Not whatever weird party-Mark persona you're convinced is what drew him in in the first place." Mark makes a face, clearly unconvinced and that’s the thing. They’ve been friends for so long, that it affords Donghyuck a certain clarity into the working of Mark Lee's mind, and vice versa, and he knows exactly what's twisting him all up.

"Mark," he says, softer this time. "You're not boring. I know I tell you that a _lot_, but as your best friend, it's well within my rights to do so. And it's also within my rights to tell you that anyone, Yukhei _included_, would be lucky to date you. You're a great guy and you make people happy. And that includes your stupidly large boyfriend."

Mark flushes, looking down at the table. "Thanks, Hyuckie," he says quietly.

Donghyuck nods self righteously. "Now," he says, sliding the cup back to Mark. "Drink your boba and go kiss your boyfriend. I have an appointment to keep."

* * *

_Present_

> **Mark Lee charged Donghyuck Lee 10000.00**
> 
> March 24
> 
> VENMO WONT LET ME CHARGE U A MILLION DOLLARS BUT YOU BETTER FUCKING BELIEVE YOURE PAYING ME THAT AND MORE DONGHYUCK LEE
> 
> ♡ 25 ✎ 8
> 
> **Donghyuck Lee**
> 
> can u please calm down
> 
> **Mark Lee**
> 
> NO
> 
> **Mark Lee**
> 
> YOU LIED TO ME
> 
> **Donghyuck Lee**
> 
> Mark ur turning red
> 
> **Donghyuck Lee**
> 
> pls take a breath
> 
> **Mark Lee**
> 
> IM GOING TO KILL YOU
> 
> **Mark Lee**
> 
> AND THEN IM CALLING JOHNNY
> 
> **Donghyuck Lee**
> 
> MARK NO

Mark finds out about Donghyuck and Renjun dating in the worst, and _stupidest, _way possible.

In Donghyuck's defense, Mark was supposed to be at a writers convention all weekend, his face happy and glowing as he climbed into Yukhei's earth killing, gas bellowing pickup truck, with Donghyuck waving him off before promptly turning around and heading back up to his apartment immediately texting Renjun to come over.

So when Donghyuck leaps into Renjun's arms, slamming their mouths together - because midterms had been hell and they hadn't seen each other in two weeks - he does so under the comforting knowledge that Mark would be across state lines in an hour.

"Can you please calm down?" Renjun grumbles, his words a distinct polar opposite to his hands which were stripping Donghyuck of his shirt and flinging it somewhere into the kitchen as he pushes him down on the couch. "You're acting like an octopus."

"Good," Donghyuck mumbles with his lips attached to Renjun's neck, intent on bruising it up thoroughly. "I _missed _you."

Renjun's gaze softens as Donghyuck pulls back to kiss him. "I missed you too," he says, hands scratching soothingly through Donghyuck's hair as he licks into Donghyuck's mouth, sending goosebumps trickling down his spine.

And when Donghyuck lets Renjun press into him, his cock filling up Donghyuck so thoroughly, Donghyuck throws his head back against the couch cushions, panting, he does so under the _strict_ understanding that Mark Lee wouldn't return to their apartment for two days and one night.

Of course, Donghyuck's destiny being what it was, Mark opens the door just as Renjun comes inside him, his groan echoing in the spaces between Donghyuck's ribs and his fingers pressing a beautiful tattoo into his hips.

"Ahh!" Mark shrieks opening the door before hurriedly slamming it behind him. Donghyuck stares into Renjun's wide eyes, his heart pounding for _very _nonsexy reasons. Outside, Mark still continues yelling, "Donghyuck what the _fucking fuck_!"

"Um," Renjun says, glancing down at Donghyuck's cock. "Do you wanna-"

"_Fuck_ no," Donghyuck says emphatically. It might have been weeks since he'd last gotten fucked but even he draws the line at Mark hearing him come on Renjun's cock. He silently mourns the loss of what was going to be a clearly fantastic orgasm and nudges Renjun sadly. "Get off, I need to put pants on before his Highness comes back in clutching his pearls."

Renjun lets out a groan, which is so not fair because at least he _got_ to come, and pulls away from Donghyuck, grimacing at the sweat dripping down his skin. 

"You can come back in," Donghyuck calls when he and Renjun are fully clothed and sitting a respectable distance apart from each other on the couch.

The door cracks open and Mark peeks around it, his eyes narrowed. Donghyuck rolls his eyes. "Stop being so dramatic, oh my god."

"I think," Mark starts, slamming the door behind him as he steps into the apartment, a ruddy blush full on his cheeks. "That I am _well within my rights to be dramatic Donghyuck Lee!"_

Donghyuck winces. "I thought you had a convention," he mumbles.

"It got canceled," Mark snaps. "They had a fucking blizzard."

Donghyuck looks up in surprise. "In March?"

Mark points a finger at him. "Stop changing the subject. And fucking. _Explain_."

"Well," Donghyuck draws out slowly. "If you're sure Markie. See, what you saw could be colloquially known as the birds and bee-"

"Donghyuck, I swear to god," Mark interrupts lowly and Renjun snorts, head lowered. Donghyuck casts him a grin, gratified to see it returned. Hopefully that's a good sign that he won't be boyfriendless by the end of this night. "When the fuck did you and Renjun start this-" he flaps his hands at them. "This - _this_."

"Dating?" Renjun asks, raising an eyebrow.

Mark chokes. "Dating?!" He stares at Donghyuck incredulously. "You were dating Renjun and you didn't tell me? For how long?"

"It's been-"

"Six months," Renjun says.

"Six _months_?" Mark gasps, mouth dropping open.

“Look,” Donghyuck says quickly before Mark can get any redder. He can see the danger signs and knows that he has to act fast before Mark totally explodes. “In my defense. I’m very tiny and I have almost no money. I know-”

“Don’t you dare quote John Mulaney to try and get out of this,” Mark yells and Donghyuck winces.

"I'm sorry," he blurts. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"I mean - but _why,_" Mark asks, his frustration melting away and leading to pure devastation in his horribly big eyes. "Why- do you just not trust me Hyuckie? Is that it?"

"I think," Renjun cuts in before it can spiral any further. "That I should go."

Donghyuck casts him a pleading look but Renjun smirks, drops a kiss on Donghyuck's cheek and vanishes out the door before Donghyuck can pull him back and force him to face Mark's interrogation with him.

"Donghyuck," Mark says and Donghyuck turns back to him, sighing. Mark's big eyes are staring at him, his shoulders slumped. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't mean- Mark," Donghyuck sighs. "I didn't _mean_ not to tell you, it's just - you started dating Yukhei and I didn't want to like- I don't know- add to that. And then you had, you know, your concerns and I didn't want to distract or make it all about me and then it just became too far along and it just - I didn't mean to. It just got away from me."

“You should have told me,” Mark says softly, but all the fight has left him and he sighs and Donghyuck knows that, for the most part, the trouble is over with. 

“I know.” 

Mark sighs again then comes around to sit next to Donghyuck on the couch, giving him a one-armed side hug which was the extent of physical affection that Mark was comfortable doing with people that were not Yukhei.

Donghyuck allows it for a moment, leaning his head against Mark’s arm, before considering the leather couch and saying, “You know Renjun was fucking me on this like ten minutes ago.” 

“Oh, _fuck, _that’s so gross Donghyuck!” Mark falls off the couch in his haste to get away. 

“Like you haven’t done worse in our kitchen!”

* * *

> **Mark Lee paid Donghyuck Lee 20.00**
> 
> April 2nd
> 
> ill pay you to stop sucking face with renjun in front of me
> 
> ♡ 2 ✎ 1
> 
> **Mark Lee**
> 
> DONGHYUCK PLS

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading~


End file.
